Industry News

Call for urgency with $9 billion investment in Bruce Highway

Sunshine Coast-based truckie Niell Graham had a clear message for his colleagues on the newly-formed Bruce Highway Advisory Council (BHAC) – just get started on fixes and worry about the money later.

Graham, who was so passionate about having his say, he nominated himself for a seat at the council table and drove his Volvo B-double to the first meeting in Townsville, said a price shouldn’t be put on improving safety.

“Let our grandkids pay for it and worry about the money later,” Graham, 50, said.

“If they can do the Pacific in a year, why can’t they do the Bruce?”

Graham said there several areas he’d like to focus on first: Cairns south, Gympie north and the stretches north and south from Rockhampton.

“Have three shifts a day, six days a week and just get it done now.”

Graham has had share of heart-stopping moments on the Bruce, including just last November when an impatient motorist pulled out from behind him and narrowly avoided a head-on near Giru.

He later shared the dashcam footage on bigrigs.com.au to highlight the dangers truckies face every day on the highway.

Graham said the worst section for him is the one from Proserpine to Mackay.

“It’s narrow and its windy and a lot of tourists are putting along at 80km/h looking at the nice scenery – there are just not enough overtaking lanes.

“When you do get an overtaking lane, and try and go around them, you just don’t get the momentum and they put their boot into it.”

He also pointed out the potholes that are now opening up north of the new Gympie bypass.

Graham said he should know more about the council’s plan of attack for the Bruce at the next meeting tentatively scheduled for March or April.

“I said to them, don’t start at one end and work your way up. You need to start at both ends and in the middle and do it all in one go.”

Graham said he’d like to see the Bruce dual-laned the whole way but is uncertain if he’ll get to see that before he retires.

“They just need to stop asking and planning and just start doing. Nothing seems to be going anywhere,” added Graham who also offered a passenger seat in his truck to anyone wanting a close-up look at the troublespots.

North Queensland operator Kent Battle, who has a seat alongside Graham as a BHAC regional representative, said he put his name forward in the hope of seeing more done on the northern sections of the highway.

“Everyone’s quick to whinge, but no one’s quick to do anything,” said Battle, the Operations Manager at Nortrans Transport.

“So, I thought I need to obviously try. May not always go my way but you’ve got to give it a go.”

Battle said the common flood areas, such as the stretch north of Ingham and the Goorganga Plains at Proserpine, and narrow bridges were his main areas of concern.

“I’m a big believer that people’s attitudes cause a lot of the issues. Everyone’s got to be somewhere, but no one is more important than anyone else on the highway.

“We need to try and figure out how to lessen people’s frustrations so they don’t do stupid things.”

Queensland Trucking Association CEO Gary Mahon said the Albanese government’s recent commitment to a $7.2 billion investment to fix the state’s most dangerous road is the best possible news to start 2025.

But only if it means that the works, 80 per cent of which are now to be funded by the federal government, are kicked into high gear as soon as possible.

Since the first meeting of the BHAC on December 18 in Townsville, Mahon has been in regular contact with the office of state Transport Minister Brent Mickelberg pushing for priorities to be established.

“There is no doubt that this funding will boost the budget for the Bruce Highway but there is still the question over what time period this funding will be spent,” Mahon said.

“This funding must be utilised in the next 3-5 years to make a significant impact on the quality and safety of the Bruce Highway.”

Mahon said he’s thrilled that the Fix the Bruce campaign that QTA partnered on with the RACQ last year has had “cut-through” but added that the campaign partners aren’t letting up.

“Together, we demand substantial improvements to the Bruce Highway.”

At the recent BHAC meeting, Mahon said delegates discussed a range of options that would reduce the risks without huge capital investments.

One example that the QTA put forward was widening the approaches to several bridges.

“The principle was, why can’t we do some relatively lower cost treatments to reduce risk until such time the bigger capital flows to do the big job.

“Rather than wait until we get the money to replace the bridge, we could widen out the approaches, maybe put in a kilometre of pavement widening, do some centre-line widening, some treatments that are not the solution but will reduce risk in the meantime.

“Because they are typically places where you’ve got B-doubles crossing thousands of times a day, with less than a metre between them.

Mahon said the infamous Maryborough intersection, the scene of many tragedies in recent years, is another classic example. As far as we’re concerned, that’s Top of the Pops. There’s just been too many fatalities and crashes there.

“Let’s look at ways we could perhaps do a lower cost rejig of that intersection through the use of traffic islands, line-markings, signage, whatever the case may be, until, the full treatment is done to try and reduce risk in that intersection.”

Mahon said the building of the Rocky Ring Road as a dual carriageway was also discussed and the minister told the council members that the state government is still working with the federal government on that factor in the design phase.

“We’ll wait to hear whether that’s the case. But what we’re saying is that if you’re building bridges over the river, which that entails, and we’re future-proofing working our way north, it makes sense that it would be dual-lane, particularly the bridges.”

Mahon said he also pushed for an update on the proposed rest area for truckies at Tiaro as part of the new bypass, and a “decent and appropriate” rest area for truckies at
Mackay.

Mahon said there was limit to what could be done in the first BHAC meeting but the early signs are good.

Mahon also said Labor’s commitment to shoulder 80 per cent of the investment in the works, rather than the previous 50:50 arrangement, should also help speed progress. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has also since pledged to match the spend and the 80:20 ratio.

In a statement, the Crisafulli state government said the 80:20 funding split for the Bruce Highway is a massive win for Queensland, just two months since being elected.

“Since forming government, we have been calling for Queensland’s fair share of funding from the federal government at every opportunity,” Mickelberg said.

“Queensland deserves better than a second-class highway and that is why we are focused on delivering a safer and more reliable Bruce.

“One of my key priorities as Minister for Transport and Main Roads is to deliver a long-term upgrade plan to bring the Bruce Highway up to safety standards.

“The return to an 80:20 funding split is a welcomed commitment from the federal government to enable our delivery of a safer Bruce.”

In announcing the new Bruce funding, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the investment would fast-track critical projects along the whole 1679km corridor, and initially focus on priority sections north of Gympie that have been identified by stakeholders due to their higher than average crash rates.

Those black spots include Maryborough to Benaraby, Rockhampton to St Lawrence, Bowen to Townsville and Ingham to Innisfail.

Labor said projects within the package may include installing safety barriers, wide centre lines and audio tactile line marking; constructing wider shoulders; increasing run off areas, overtaking lanes and rest areas; and improving intersections, signage, and sight lines.

There will also be a focus on resealing and rehabilitating road surfaces for resilience, thereby mitigating damage from increasing weather events, Labor said.

The identification and prioritisation of projects funded under the package will be informed in consultation with the Queensland Government and BHAC, with works commencing this year.

TMR has estimated $9 billion will achieve a minimum three out of five-star safety rating for the entirety of the Bruce, which is rated as one of the most dangerous roads in Australia. The Bruce has an average fatal and serious injury crash rate three to five times higher than any major highway in Victoria or NSW.

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The post Call for urgency with $9 billion investment in Bruce Highway appeared first on Big Rigs.

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